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The Lancaster Police Department on Tuesday will open a satellite office on the city’s west side – in the lobby of Springs Memorial Hospital.
While it won’t be staffed 24/7, the office will benefit the hospital, nearby residents and the police department, said Police Chief Scott Grant, adding that the proposal originated with hospital CEO Janice Dabney.
“It’s her idea. I just recognize a good one when I hear it,” Grant said. “We’re excited.”

Surrounded by well-wishers gathered for prayer and food, one former foster child made a life-changing donation to another last Friday at J&J Autosports in Lancaster.
J&J co-owner Jonathon Mobley presented a free 2004 Chevy Impala to recipient Alexis Buckley through On the Road Again, a program run by the S.C. Foster Parent Association.

Van Wyck residents overwhelmingly voted to become a town during Tuesday’s incorporation election.
Residents of the community’s 1.4-square-mile “original incorporation area” voted 67-7 to incorporate, according to Lancaster County elections officials. Incorporation is the first step in a plan that calls for the new town to grow through voluntary annexation of adjacent properties.

Three of the four defendants facing trial for the drug robbery and murder of 20-year-old Randy Tran in Indian Land last year have pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
The fourth, alleged to be the shooter in Tran’s killing, is to face trial for murder later this month.
According to the Lancaster County Clerk of Court’s Office, Na’Chon Jakeh Hayden, 22, of Indian Land pleaded guilty during Tuesday’s plea hearing to one count of armed robbery.

A Lancaster man has been charged in a string of 11 thefts and burglaries across the county over the past two months.
Christopher David Sims, 25, was arrested at about 3 a.m. Aug. 2 after deputies responded to a call on Country Club Drive, according to a statement from the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.
The homeowners reported that someone had tripped a motion-sensor alarm in the carport, and they saw a man running away and noticed a red Honda parked in a neighbor’s driveway.

One month after gasoline taxes increased 2 cents a gallon across the Palmetto State to pay for road improvements, the S.C. Department of Transportation has announced a new round of projects, including one in Lancaster County.

The list includes 247 paving projects totaling 260 miles across 30 counties. One road in Lancaster County, Rowland Avenue in Heath Springs, will be resurfaced. It's about a mile long and connects South Main Street to Kershaw Camden Highway.

An S.C. Attorney General’s Office opinion suggests Indian Land’s incorporation effort might not be able to continue as proposed should Van Wyck residents decide to incorporate in next week’s special election.
In the meantime, organizers of the Indian Land effort, Voters for a Town of Indian Land (VTIL), say they disagree with the opinion and will continue moving forward as they prepare for an appearance before the Joint Legislative Committee on Municipal Incorporation on Aug. 18.

Tye Sturgeon has no idea where his little cross-country caravan will sleep tonight.
“But I ain’t worried,” he said Monday. Someone will make space for him, wife Hannah, dog Pistol Annie and horses Rudy and Jazz. That’s just how it goes.
“God’s gonna take care of us. Always has and always will,” he said, as he pulled off his cowboy hat and wiped the sweat off his forehead with a shirt sleeve. “I take the quickest route and don’t never worry.”

On paper, the Lancaster Police Department is almost back up to full strength after a year of struggling with a manpower shortage.
But there is still an urgent need for more certified “street ready” officers.
Three recent police hires are now attending the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy but won’t graduate until late October. After that, the graduates have a minimum eight weeks of training with a police department field-training officer before being out on their own.